Thursday 15 November 2007

GYPSIES GREEN: BIG POST, BIG ISSUE!

The Gypsies Green affair rumbles on. A meeting has been arranged tonight between interested sporting bodies and the Council. I shall post as soon as I find out the outcome.

Those against the development may be interested in referring the whole matter to the Local Government Ombudsman, as I have posted on before. Below is the outline to the relevant sites:

http://www.lgo.org.uk/

http://www.lgo.org.uk/pdf/howcompcouncil.pdf

I have also made it really simple. The complaint form is outlined below in its full text. Cut and paste it to your word processor programme and send it off. I have already posted mine, based on the argument that the land has been sold for less than its commercial value. If the Council won’t reveal the full details, then they have not acted in the Boroughs best wishes, as they are legally charged to do.

I cant give you the full text of my complaint for obvious reasons, but you get the idea. This is only a first step, but make sure you lodge your complaint on the back of mine.

Local Government Ombudsman

Complaint form

If you have not already done so, please read our leaflet Complaint about the council? How to complain to the Local Government Ombudsman. You can download it from this website (see the section ‘How to complain’).

When you have filled in this form, print it and send it (with the monitoring form, which follows) to the office of the Ombudsman who deals with your area. The addresses are at the end of the document. Or you can send it as an email attachment to the email address given.


Please delete or cross through options as appropriate.

1 Mr/Ms/Mrs/Miss or Other: (please insert)
First name:
Surname:

2 Your address:

Postcode:
email address:

3 Daytime contact phone number:

Note: Please put in the telephone number where we can contact you between 9am and 5pm. Tell us if it is your home or work, or the number of a neighbour or friend. If you do not have a daytime contact number, please put down a number with an answerphone where we can leave a message during the day. If you do not have any of these, please leave this section blank

4 Your special requirements: If anything makes it difficult for you to use our service, for example if English is not your first language or you have a disability, please use the space below to tell us how we might help you.


5 Which council or authority are you complaining about?

Note: Please write the name of the organisation you want to complain about. It may not be a council. The list of organisations and authorities we can deal with is on page 3 of our leaflet ‘Complaint about the council?’ This is in the How to complain section of this website.

6 Have you complained to the council or authority? Yes/No


Note: In most cases, before we can investigate a complaint, the council must have a chance to answer it. If you have not complained to the council, please do so. You can find out how to complain from the council’s offices or you can ask a councillor to help. If you are not satisfied with the answer, or if the council does not give you an answer within a reasonable time, you can complain to the Ombudsman for your area. In some urgent cases, including education admission appeals, we may be able to deal with your complaint straight away.


7 If you know, please say when you complained to the council or authority.


8 What do you think the council or authority did wrong?


9 How has this affected you?


10 What do you think the council or authority should do to put things right?



It will help us deal quickly with your complaint if you send us copies of any letters or documents about it. Please say if you would like them returned when we have finished looking at your case. Yes/No

Your signature: Date:

To be signed by the person making the complaint


Monitoring our equal opportunities policy

We want to find out if we are giving as good a service as we can to all complainants. To help us do this, please fill in this form and send it to us. If more than one of you has made the complaint, it would be helpful if only one of you fills in the form. The information we get from all replies will help us decide how we can assist as many people as possible. This information will not be sent to the council and will not affect the way your complaint is handled.

Note: Ethnic groups are not about nationality, place of birth or citizenship. They are about colour and cultural background.

Please tick the circles as appropriate (or delete other options)

1. Ethnic group:
White
British ¡
Irish ¡
Any other white background ¡

Mixed
White and black Caribbean ¡
White and black African ¡
White and Asian ¡
Any other mixed background ¡

Asian or Asian British
Indian ¡
Pakistani ¡
Bangladeshi ¡
Any other Asian background ¡

Black or black British
Caribbean ¡
African ¡
Any other black background ¡

Chinese
Chinese ¡

Other ethnic group
Any other group ¡

2. Sex:
Male ¡ Female ¡

3. Age:
Under 16 ¡
16-19 ¡
20-24 ¡
25-59 ¡
60-64 ¡
65 and above ¡


4. Do you have a disability?
Yes ¡ No ¡


5. How did you find out about the Local Government Ombudsman service?
Newspaper ¡
Radio ¡
TV ¡
Councillor or council ¡
Solicitor ¡
Friend or relative ¡
Citizens Advice Bureau ¡
Law centre ¡
Other advice service ¡
Government department ¡
Library ¡
Internet website ¡
Phone book or Thomson Directory ¡
MP ¡
Other ¡


When you have filled in this form, please print it and send it with your complaint form direct to the office of the Ombudsman who deals with your area. Don’t worry if you send it to the wrong office. We will pass it to the correct one straight away. Or you can send it as an email attachment to:
enquiries@lgo.org.uk. If you have other electronic documents to send in support of your complaint, you can send these too, as long as they, and the complaint form, are all attached to one email to us. You can call the Adviceline on 0845 602 1983 if you need advice or help. (Please note that calls may be recorded for training and quality purposes.)

If you send your complaint by email and you do not receive an acknowledgement (either by email or by post) within 10 days, please telephone the advice line number above.Send your forms to:
For complaints about London boroughs north of the river Thames (including Richmond but not Harrow), Coventry City; and authorities in Essex, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Suffolk:

Tony Redmond
Local Government Ombudsman
10th Floor
Millbank Tower
Millbank
London SW1P 4QP
Phone: 020 7217 4620
Fax: 020 7217 4621


For complaints about Birmingham City Council, Solihull MBC; and authorities in Cheshire, Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire, Lincolnshire, Warwickshire and the north of England (except the cities of Lancaster, Manchester and York):

Anne Seex
Local Government Ombudsman
Beverley House
17 Shipton Road
York YO30 5FZ
Phone: 01904 380200
Fax: 01904 380269


For complaints about London boroughs south of the river Thames (except Richmond) and Harrow; Trafford MBC; the cities of Lancaster, Manchester and York; and authorities in the rest of England not included in the areas of Tony Redmond and Anne Seex:

Jerry White
Local Government Ombudsman
The Oaks No 2
Westwood Way
Westwood Business Park
Coventry CV4 8JB
Phone: 024 7682 0000
Fax: 024 7682 0001

No comments: